Gun Store Relocation in McLean, near elementary school - Thoughts? (Arlington: rent, neighborhood)

[Ffxdata]

Originally Posted by MedvedActual

Eh, seeing how you stated you did not know much about guns... An overwhelming majority of handguns (also known as pistols) that are sold/exist are semi-automatic, meaning the firearm uses the energy from the first chambered & fired round to chamber another one; obviously they only also fire one round per trigger pull (as opposed to an automatic weapon that will expend all of its ammunition as long as the trigger is depressed). Same goes for semi-automatic rifles. Revolvers (just about all of them) are not considered semi-automatic handguns since some additional manual operation is required. Hence, and I mean this in an educational way, your suggestion above would not work. Also, a gun is a gun IMO. One kills just like the other. Sure, the automatics have a higher rate of fire, but you have to do a 'bit more' paperwork, as well as pay more, to get your hands on one of those. Also, if you walk into any gun store, I pretty much guarantee one will find very few automatic weapons available, as compared to their semi selection.

If a store has a fully automatic firearm available, it will likely be in tens of thousands of dollars and require a special permit obtained through the government. Like $50,000 plus 6+ months of paperwork.

The problem with much of the attempted legislation is the true lack of understanding of even the most basic firearm knowledge. In addition, the "scary" assault weapons (generally tactical black rifles), are responsible for a minute portion of gun deaths each year compared to handguns (also called pistols) of all kinds. So if the gun seller were to sell only handguns, he would actually be selling the most "murderous" firearm platform.

[roninsedge]

If the community doesn't want the store there, then the community needs to work with their government officials to enact the legal change necessary to get them to move to a different location. Until that happens, there isn't really much to do about it since it is located legally and is negligibly dangerous to children. My opinion of whether it is right or wrong doesn't weigh in on this issue since I don't live there and have absolutely no skin in this game. I am happy that Foust is backing his constituents play on this matter, because that is what we elect people for.

Personally, I have no problem with the location and don't see what the issue is with it's proximity. 3 blocks or back yard is still pretty close to a school IMHO.

The kids at that school are in more danger of being hit by a car than they are of being shot by a firearm purchased at the shop in question. Honestly, they are in more danger of being shot by a firearm illegally obtained somewhere else than they are from a firearm purchased at the shop in question but still in less danger than they are of being bitten by a shark off the coast of the Outer Banks.

[MedvedActual]

Originally Posted by Ffxdata

If a store has a fully automatic firearm available, it will likely be in tens of thousands of dollars and require a special permit obtained through the government. Like $50,000 plus 6+ months of paperwork.

The problem with much of the attempted legislation is the true lack of understanding of even the most basic firearm knowledge. In addition, the "scary" assault weapons (generally tactical black rifles), are responsible for a minute portion of gun deaths each year compared to handguns (also called pistols) of all kinds. So if the gun seller were to sell only handguns, he would actually be selling the most "murderous" firearm platform.

Copy on all above and agree; just did not want to go into specifics earlier. Fully automatic weapons are by no means easy to get (need the stamp, etc.). For those who do not know, even for short-barrell rifles, in VA at least, there are some additional things one must do...

Good point on the assault weapons, rifles especially; never ceases to amaze me how misunderstood that term is by many.

[Bigfoot424]

Originally Posted by StandBack-DoorsClosing

Maybe a compromise would be for the store to sell only handguns and pistols, and not semi-automatics? I don't know much about guns.

Seriously?

[car54]

Sometimes gun stores are a good thing.

Remember the famous North Hollywood Shootout of 1997? Seriously outgunned, LAPD officers borrowed a bunch of AR-15s from a nearby gun store and were then able to take the two bad guys out. That probably saved some innocent lives that day...

[car54]

Incidentally, a gun store in close proximity to a FCPS school is not unprecedented.

In 1950's and 60's Annandale....right across the street (Columbia Pike) from Annandale Elementary was Dawson's Small Arms of the World and in the basement of the building next door was, are you ready?....an INDOOR FIRING RANGE!!!! I'm sure the old man that ran the range had some kind of age limit but me and my buddies used to go there (unescorted) at a very young age, probably no older than 10. If you bought a box of .22 shorts or longs and some targets, he would loan you a single shot .22 rifle to shoot them with. We spent many a Saturday afternoon in there. He rented .22 pistols also, but you had to have a parent with you (boo!).

Anyway, people never batted an eye about the gun store and range. I guess with WWII fresh in their collective memories, people were less hysterical about silly things back then. Or at least they were hysterical about other things, namely the Soviet Union. I remember the Duck & Cover drills over at Annandale Elementary vividly. And of course the monthly tests of the (INCREDIBLY) loud air raid siren next door at the firehouse. And just up the street, in the A&P parking lot sat the latest in underground home bomb shelters.

Kids can handle more than you think. They told us regularly that, at any moment, we might be incinerated in a nuclear attack. I don't remember any of us kids fretting much about it.

Can you imagine telling the snowflakes of today that?

[LynchburgLover]

Originally Posted by car54

Incidentally, a gun store in close proximity to a FCPS school is not unprecedented.

In 1950's and 60's Annandale....right across the street (Columbia Pike) from Annandale Elementary was Dawson's Small Arms of the World and in the basement of the building next door was, are you ready?....an INDOOR FIRING RANGE!!!! I'm sure the old man that ran the range had some kind of age limit but me and my buddies used to go there (unescorted) at a very young age, probably no older than 10. If you bought a box of .22 shorts or longs and some targets, he would loan you a single shot .22 rifle to shoot them with. We spent many a Saturday afternoon in there. He rented .22 pistols also, but you had to have a parent with you (boo!).

Anyway, people never batted an eye about the gun store and range. I guess with WWII fresh in their collective memories, people were less hysterical about silly things back then. Or at least they were hysterical about other things, namely the Soviet Union. I remember the Duck & Cover drills over at Annandale Elementary vividly. And of course the monthly tests of the (INCREDIBLY) loud air raid siren next door at the firehouse. And just up the street, in the A&P parking lot sat the latest in underground home bomb shelters.

Kids can handle more than you think. They told us regularly that, at any moment, we might be incinerated in a nuclear attack. I don't remember any of us kids fretting much about it.

Can you imagine telling the snowflakes of today that?

LOL - my Catholic school had us under our desks with our hands over our necks to prepare for nuclear attack.

Yet today's kids are afraid of their own shadows.

[JD984]

Originally Posted by car54

Incidentally, a gun store in close proximity to a FCPS school is not unprecedented.

In 1950's and 60's Annandale....right across the street (Columbia Pike) from Annandale Elementary was Dawson's Small Arms of the World and in the basement of the building next door was, are you ready?....an INDOOR FIRING RANGE!!!! I'm sure the old man that ran the range had some kind of age limit but me and my buddies used to go there (unescorted) at a very young age, probably no older than 10. If you bought a box of .22 shorts or longs and some targets, he would loan you a single shot .22 rifle to shoot them with. We spent many a Saturday afternoon in there. He rented .22 pistols also, but you had to have a parent with you (boo!).

Anyway, people never batted an eye about the gun store and range. I guess with WWII fresh in their collective memories, people were less hysterical about silly things back then. Or at least they were hysterical about other things, namely the Soviet Union. I remember the Duck & Cover drills over at Annandale Elementary vividly. And of course the monthly tests of the (INCREDIBLY) loud air raid siren next door at the firehouse. And just up the street, in the A&P parking lot sat the latest in underground home bomb shelters.

Kids can handle more than you think. They told us regularly that, at any moment, we might be incinerated in a nuclear attack. I don't remember any of us kids fretting much about it.

Can you imagine telling the snowflakes of today that?

Or maybe they and their parents didn't grow up in the shadow of Columbine, Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, Fort Hood and the James Holmes shootings. There was a guy who shot up U. Texas in the 60s but random shootings seemed far less common then.

The obsession with guns in this country is pretty sick and I'm glad people are speaking up. I think the McLean petition has over 1650 signers now, most from the area.

[NC211]

Originally Posted by spencgr

If the entrance to Arlington is zoned for religious facilities (which it isn't), then, yes, both are completely legal.

But it terms of morality or "offensiveness", the Westboro Church location is much more offensive because the location (and their purpose) is intended to offend. Their goal is to anger and upset people by protesting soldiers.

Are you saying the intent and goal of a gun shop is to anger and upset parents and children? Hardly. It's to sell their merchandise.

It would be incredibly offensive to me, a parent of elementary aged children, if I had to know a neighboring retailer who's "merchandise" served but one and only one purpose, to kill, was sitting next door to where the last hopes of protecting the innocents of our youth via shielding them from the ignorance of their parents via imagination and "recess", was an actuality. Me personally.

Optically, what an ignorant and stupid idea, legal or not. Considering you can still buy an AR15 for recreational purposes, to further expand on that "right" by letting this transaction occur adjacent to an elementary school, is proof that Sandy Hook meant very little to the moral conscious and ethical fabric of this country.

I know I know, guns don't kill people....

[Bigfoot424]

Originally Posted by JEB77

Or maybe they and their parents didn't grow up in the shadow of Columbine, Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, Fort Hood and the James Holmes shootings. There was a guy who shot up U. Texas in the 60s but random shootings seemed far less common then.

The obsession with guns in this country is pretty sick and I'm glad people are speaking up. I think the McLean petition has over 1650 signers now, most from the area.

And aren't you glad you live in a country where we have these rights? Have you ever been in a gun store? Any I have ever been in are run by very professional and knowledgeable employees. Many times they are former military and LE.

The market should determine whether this store makes it or not. Not a small number of people who sign a petition.